Fabric treatment



Feb. 9, 1943. D. LEARNARD ln-rAi. 2,310,245

` FABRIC TREATMENT Filed June 14, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet l LA ATToRN Feb. 9, 1943. H. D. Ll-:ARNARD am.

FABRIC TREATMENT Filed June'14, 1940 2 'sheets-sheet 2 INVENTORS GWW-b. LILHQ'A NBN" llllllllllllllll li HllxIiJ LECCE-IIL DEDDED QUEDE EDUEDDDDDDUDDDDDDEDDEDDDDD/ UNETED STAT S PATE-'i I 2,310,245 Fannie TREATMENT Harry D. Learnard, Andover, Norman A. Sykes, Methuen, and Arthur It. Wachter, Reading, Mass., assignors to Pacific Mills, Lawrence,

Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application June 14, 1940, Serial No. 340,625

Claims. `(ICI. 26-60) This invention relates to a treatment for imparting a uniform width to fabrics and its object is to provide improved method and apparatus which utilize for that purpose the natural weftwise shrinkage of the fabric due to wetting and drying. In accordance with the preferred embodiment of this invention a warpwise and a predeterminedamount of weftwise slack is introduced to the fabric in a novel way to control the amount of shrinkage during drying so that 1o adjustment of the height of the upper edge ella a uniform width and a warpwise and weftwise of the pole above the plane of the platforms i8 preshrinkage are attained. and 2D supporting the selvages of the fabric. In the drawings: l Preferably, the member 40 extends substantially Fig 1 is a perspective View of a mapping emmidway of and parallel to the direction of web bodyng the invention, Viewed from the enter.. )5 travel. The I'Ilel'l'lbel` S SO disposed. its ing end; web engaging edgeY 40u gradually slants upward- Fig 2 is a, plan View diagrammaticauy 11u-S- 1y to elevate the center of the web above the trai-,ing the treatment, andY y plane of its selvages pulling the selvages out- Fig. 3 is e. diagrammatic elevation view of the Wardly of the still open mouths 0f the tender elements 0f Fig 2, 20 clips, so that as the lweb passes beyond the reach Referring mst to Fig. l the web 2 of fabric of member 40 it has a predetermined amount of entering the machine passes around guide roll WeftWlSe Slack 4 and between rolls l and B, the lower of which At OI' adjacent the leaving end 0f the member dips into a tank lll containing water or other 30 are a Pall 0f W'riIDWSe Slek nl'fI'O-lleng liquid customarily employed in width finishing. members Consisting of uppel' and l0WeI l'OllS 50 The Shaft 1 of r011 3 is power driven through and 52 on ithe left hand vside ofthe machine bevel gears s and H from shaft e2, rotated in a and 54 and 56 on the right hand Side- The roll mannerl to be described. From the tank I0 the 55, Preferably Cloth covered, is mounted horiweb passes around rods I2, lll and I6 suitably Zen'ally 0n a Shaft 58 Connected by bevel gears mounted in the frame and adapted to netten and @0 t0 Shaft G2 driven bv bevel sears 64 from a guide the web. The web then advances substan- Vertical Shaft 53 driven by geel 'm meshing With tially horizontally-until its selvages are supportgear 72 Secured to power driven wheel 26 as by ed on platforms g3 ,and 2|) Where they are en bolts 75. By this means roll 56, as well as the gaged by Side Conveyors 22 and 24 adapted 1-,0 aforesaid roll 8, being geared to the drive for grasp the Seh/ages and Convey the fabric through the tenter chain 24, rotate at a predetermined a dryer as will be described. The conveyors 22 peripheral Speed with relation to the speed of and 24 Amay be of any desired construction and advance of the chain. As will be described, the the conventional opposed chains of clip tenters Speeds 0f rolls 8 and 56 are preferably the Same have been used effectively for this purpose. As and are Slightly greater than the Speed 0f the the particular form of conveyor forms no part of Chanthe present invention provided it operates in the The roll 54 rests on the periphery of the roll manner described below and as the construction 56.' It is mounted on a shaft 8i) supported at of a clip tenter chain is well known in the art, it I one end in a bearing 82 rigidly suspended at B4 need not be further described. r from a shaft 86 pivotally mounted at 88 to a The tenter chain 22 approaches the inlet end 45 standard 90 suitably supported on the frame. of the machine, rounds the usual opening wheel The shaft 86 receives a weight 92 which can slide 26 and returns in fabric feeding position along lengthwise of the shaft and be secured in adsuitable guides, it being driven by conventional J'uSted pOStiOn by JOlie thumb SCIeW 913- BY Aapparatus not shown, but which includes means changing the position of weight 92 toward and for rotating the wheel 26. In a similar fashion, away from the pivot point 88, the amount of chain 24 approaches and leaves the entering end pressure of roll 54 against roll 5G can be advof the machine around the opening wheel 26. justed.

As Jthe clips round the wheels 26 and 26' their In similar manner, roll 52 is driven from the jaws are opened, as indicated at 30, to receive drive for chain 22 to rotate at a predetermined the fabric selvages on which they converge over peripheral speed relative to the speed of adthe platforms I8 and 2li. As in the usual clip tenter, the jaws close automatically when the fabric, initially inserted fully into the clips, is withdrawn to a predetermined position in the outer margins of their open mouths.

At 40 is designated a novel weftwise slack introducing member in the form of a pole mounted at opposite ends on legs e2 suitably adapted, as by being constructed of telescoping sections, for

vance of the chain, and in practice rolls 52, 56 and 8 rotate at the same peripheral speed. Also, in like manner, pressure roll 50 rests in peripheral engagement with roll 52 to press thereagainst with an adjustable pressure regulated by the position of weight 92.

After the clips close on the selvages in a manner to be described, the tenters convey the fabric through a hot air drier where it is exposed to circulating currents of air heated to a temperature of approximately 250 F. to 350 F. The drier is preferably long enough with relation to the speed of the fabric to dry the fabric completely before it is accumulated at Il.

The operation of the machine is as followsz' As the fabric enters the machine it is of uneven Width due largely to varying amounts of warpwise tension applied to it in drawing it through the preceding operations of dyeing, finishing, etc. in its manufacture. On rare occasions the web may have one or more scallops in its selvages as the result of a previous severe tensioning. Its approximate means width is indicated at A in Fig. 2. This width is slightly greater than the desired finished width indicated at C. For example, a web that is to finish 38 Wide would be woven 40 wide and would reach the machine of the present invention at about 38% to 39 means width depending upon its treatment after weaving.

The fabric is introduced to the machine between moisture-applying rolls 6 and 8 at the peripheral speed of rolls 8, 52 and 56. The selvages of the web are guided by the platforms I8 and 20 into the open jaws of the opposite tenter clips 22 and 24 moving in the directions shown by arrows.

While the jaws remain open the center of the web is pushed upwardly by the member 48 gradually contracting the selvages from their A width to their B width reached at the end of the membei` 48 so that as the web leaves the member 40 it is slack weftwise.

The fabric then passes between the rolls 52, 56 and their pressure rollers 58, 54 and as it leaves the rolls the tenter clips are closed on the selvages. The speed of the tenter chains is slightly lower than that of the fabric, preferably around lower, with the result that as the cloth is grasped by the clips in closing it accumulates between the clips forming the transverse undulations indicated at 2a, the effect of which is to provide slack warpwise of the web.

The web which is now slack both warpwise and weftwise then enters the housing |00.

The tracks on which the opposite tenter chains run are so spaced apart that as the open clips receive the selvages of the web over the platforms I8 and 20 the clips are spaced a distance X, such that the selvages protrude deep into their mouths. The clip chains gradually and uniformly diverge from the width X to the width Y assumed immediately after they pass into the hot housing |00.

Each of the clips of the chains closes by the usual automatic devices when the selvage in the clip has been withdrawn until it protrudes into the clip a small predetermined distance b. Such withdrawal is effected partly by the member 48 which, in pushing the center of the web upwardly, draws the selvages inwardly to the position B, and partly by divergence of the clip chains between X and Y. Because of this outward chain divergence, the clips close automatically at different times governed by when the distance b is reached in each clip and varying with the uneven width of the cloth. The divergence is such that the clips preferably close on the narrowest portions, including any severe scallops that may be present, just after the warp slack has been introduced at rolls 52 and 58. Continued diverging movement of the clips toward the housing causes more clips to close as they move outwardly on the wider portions of the web, until the point Y is reached when all of the clips will be closed. From then on the clips run parallel at the Y spacing holding the selvages parallel and spaced apart a distance C from each other. rl'his distance is preferably equal to the desired finished width of the web.

The amount of weft slack introduced to the web by the member 4U is preferably such that the slack in the widest portions of the Web will be taken up by weftwise shrinkage in the dryer |00. In the narrower portions of the web there will be less slack, since the clips in diverging after grasping the selvages at the narrower portions will take out some of the slack introduced to them by the member El and as a result of such lessened slack in the narrower portions the shrinkage will be less therein, thus finishing them to the same width as the initially wider portions which undergo a relatively greater amount of shrinkage.

The warpwise slack introduced by the difference in speed between the cloth fooding rools 52, 56 and 8 and the tenter chains enhances the ability of the fabric to shrink weftwise, since the warp slack removes such resistance to weftwise shrinking as would result from a straightened, taut warp. The fabric is also shrunk warpwise due to slack drying so that less yardage leaves the machine than enters it and the amount of this warpwise shrinkage is adjustable by varying the relative speeds of the clip chains and entering fabric.

By the present invention a simple yet effective treatment for width finishing has been provided which employs, with the exceptions above noted, conventional apparatus available in most mills. It is to be understood that except as indicated in the appended claims the invention is not to be limited to the details above described.

We claim:

1. The treatment of cloth to impart to it a substantially uniform predetermined width which comists in wetting a web of cloth that is wider than said predetermined width and has irregular selvage edges, advancing the moist web of cloth to feed its selvages with the open clips of two oppositely disposed series of moving tenter clips introducing weft slack into the web by engaging the web and withdrawing its selvages outwardly of the open clips, diverging the moving tenter clips to effect automatic closure on the opposite selvages of the fabric while the fabric is advancing faster than the clips so that the fabric accumulates between the clips to provide warp slack, subsequently disposing the opposite series of clips in parallel relationship spaced apart to dispose each edge of the fabric along a line parallel to the other edge and with the edges spaced apart a distance equal to said predetermined desired width of cloth, while retaining some of said weft slack, and thereafter shrinking the slacked cloth both warpwise and weftwise.

2. In apparatus for preshrinking cloth, the combination of two oppositely disposed series of tenter clips advancing at a predetermined rate of speed, means for opening the clips, feeding means for advancing cloth with its opposite selvages in the open clips at a speedwhich is greater than that of the clips, means engaging the cloth for withdrawing its edges outwardly of the open mouths of the clips to introduce weft slack, means for closing the clips while the cloth is advancing at such relatively greater speed to introduce warp slack, means for aligning the clips to space the opposite selvage edges at a distance equal to the desired width and means for removing moisture from the cloth to effect shrinkage thereof.

3. The treatment of a web of fabric of uneven initial width to impart to it a substantially even width, which includes moistening the web, engaging the central portion of the web and holding it out of the plane of the selvage portions, grasping successive portions of each selvage, disposing the grasped portions of each selvage with their edges in alignment with each other and spaced a predetermined distance from the opposite selvage portions approximating the desired finished width, releasing said engaged portion of the web while the web is still moist to provide a weftwise slack varying in amount corresponding to the variations in the said initial Width, and drying the fabric so slacked to contract it to the width desired.

4. The treatment lof a web of fabric of uneven initial width to impart to it a substantially even width, which includes moistening the web, slacking the web warpwise, engaging the central portion of the web and holding it out of the plane of the selvage portions, grasping successive portions of each selvage, disposing the grasped portions of each selvage with their edges in alignment with each other and spaced a predetermined distance from the opposite selvage portions, releasing said engaged portion of the web to provide a weftwise slack varying in amount corresponding to the variations in the said initial width, and drying the fabric so slacked to shrink it warpwise and contract it Weftwise to the width desired.

5. The treatment of a web of fabric of initial uneven width to impart to it a substantially even width, which includes advancing a moist web of cloth to feed its selvages within the open mouths of two oppositely disposed series of moving tenter clips, introducing weft slack into the web by engaging the web and drawing the selvages in a direction outwardly of the open clips, diverging the moving tenter clips to eiiect automatic closure on the opposite selvages of the fabric with the selvage edges protruding a uniform predetermined distance into the mouths of the clips, subsequently disposing the opposite series of clips along lines spaced a predetermined distance apart to align each edge of the fabric and provide a weftwise slack between the edges varying in amount corresponding to the variations in the said initial width, and thereafter drying the fabric so slacked to contract it to the width desired.

HARRY D. LEARNARD. NORMAN A. SYKES. ARTHUR R. WACHTER.

CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION.

Patent No. 2,510,245.. February 9, l9li5.

HARRY D. LEARNARD, ET AL.

It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specification ofthefabove numbered patent requiring correction as follows: Page 2, first column, lines.;l 25 vand 29, for "means" -read -meanA-; and second column, line 50,' for feeding read feedingv; line 58, for "shrinkage" read --sh.ri nking; line 5M., claim l, yfor 1'vvith" read within; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein thatvthe same may confo'rmv'to thefrecord of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealedvthis 50th dayof March, A. D. 19).!5.

Henry Van Arsdale, A- (Seal) A. Acting Commissioner of Patents. 

